Well boys and girls, I attended my first comic book convention, or convention of any kind.  I’ve traveled a fair amount, but just never managed to make it to one. This past weekend that changed, Steve and myself went to check things out.

ECCC was held at the Washington state Convention Center, downtown Seattle, which is a great scene, in general.  The building it’s self is pretty large, its got a few coffee shops and restaurants in side, both the ECCC staff and the Convention Center staff were friendly and helpful.  We nabbed our press passes without a problem and started nudging our way through the myriad of geeks and nerds we were surrounded by.  The first day’s turn out was great, people over flowed into all the conventions rooms and hallways, many of which were void of anything ComiCon related.  This brings me to something Steve Artlip mentioned, he said “during Pax all these area’s are open”.  The point is they put up false walls, creating two rooms for the various panels which were very over crowded on the first day, and a single room for all the guests, vendors, games, and pretty much anything else.  It was clear 90% of what was to be seen could be seen in a few hours, unless you were planning to gain Stan Lee, or Leonard Nimoy’s autograph, the pair would likely have taken you the entire first day to obtain. Though I am assuming the second day would have been much easier to manage, as the event was much more tame on its last day.  Several guests were no longer there, and it seemed the crowds were much smaller as well. Steve had no problem snapping a picture of Lou Ferrigno (The Hulk)

In the chaos of the first day we saw many great costumes, especially Star Wars related, an entire booth was setup up for Star Wars picture taking, and no shortage of folks wanting to put an arm around a Jedi or play with the props they had on hand. I waited to catch a couple of them walking around

We also caught a Borg, and unknown armored soldier running around assimilating the tourist’s.

(There is a few more picture’s on Platformnation’s Facebook)

343 didn’t have much going on at there booth, just two small LCD’s playing Red V.S. Blue and Halo 3 MP. I did manage to speak briefly with Joel Heyman after he finished signing free copies of Red vs. Blue, you might know him as the hilarious character Caboose on RvB, he’s a very nice guy in real life, anyone who’s played Shadowrun should check out the series he wrote 1-800-MAGIC it’s pretty funny stuff (plus we never saw enough of Shadowrun right?). The only time we saw anybody like Frank O Conner at the booth we did not actually see him as it was impossibly crowded. We checked the second day but no dice.  Also we wanted to get a picture with the guy dressed as an ODST, but alas I only saw him once, he then vanished into the crowd never to be seen again.  343 Industries, make this guy stay at the booth next year.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Here There Be Robots writer Jonah Gregory and artist Jeremy Gregory. Both are great, and there Indy comic book series Here There Be Robots  is excellent stuff, funny, it‘s got clever art, and it’s just creative as hell.  Another really cool thing about Here There Be Robots is you can read issues for free at Here There Be Robots

I will be reading their first TPB for a review, keep a look out for that.

All and all, it was great.  Steve and I agree it could easily have supported much more in the way of booths, panels, events, etc.  What was there was awesome, even with the lines most people I spoke with got to do what they came to, and with the some what smaller turn out the second day I was able to actually get into some of the vendor’s comic bens. That was without a doubt one of the best part’s about this convention, all the vendors were doing 25-50 percent off from the get go.  Also those readers or collectors looking for something rare can often find it at a convention. I even picked up several DreamWave/Image comics I have been searching for.

We did a short pod cast after the show Sunday at Fox Sports Grill, so give that a listen we talk a bit more about some of these subjects, and a few others.  I hope everyone that can, try’s to come out next year, I‘m sure P*N will be going again.

Emerald City ComiCon: Lock & Load

See you next year Emerald City ComiCon!

]]> http://www.platformnation.com/2010/03/17/platform-nation-at-emerald-city-comicon/feed/ 5 http://www.platformnation.com/2010/03/17/tap-fu-review-iphone/ http://www.platformnation.com/2010/03/17/tap-fu-review-iphone/#comments Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:48:34 +0000 Cooper Bibaud http://www.platformnation.com/?p=29572

Release: December 3rd, 2009
Genre: Action
Developer: Neptune Interactive Inc.
Available Platforms: iPhone, iPod Touch
Players: 1
MSRP: $1.99
ESRB Rating: 9+
Website: tapfu.neptuneii.com

Smells Like Donkey. You know you’re in for a treat when the developers name catches your eye. You can thank those guys along with Neptune Interactive for Tap-Fu, a combat based side-scroller for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

For $1.99, Tap-Fu offers quite a package. For starters, your eyes will be dazzled with one of the more visually impressive games I’ve played so far on my iPhone. While not as detailed, or life-like as others, that’s not what Tap-Fu is going for. Instead, you’ll be treated to a fun cartoon world full of color and style. The game showcases a beautiful 2D/3D hybrid art-style that makes the action pop with depth in both the back and foreground. It really is nice to look at, and the characters are all big and full of fantastic animations, down to your character’s flowing headband.

The basic premise of the story mode, which is a work in progress with planned expansions, has you tracking down the Sweettooth Clan, who’ve stolen your masters candy. Sounds lame? Well, it is, but the game knows it and pokes fun at itself through its dialogue based cut-scenes. The game may look cute, and simple, but the humor is there, and the action is heavy.

The thing with Tap-Fu is that it’s a game that rewards the players who stick with it. It starts off pretty slow, and tedious, but as you progress you will earn more moves that will mix up the pace of the game. It isn’t until you unlock the basic set that you’ll begin to appreciate the gameplay. From kicks, and punches, to Street Fighter-esque fireballs, you’ll be pulling off every move in the Ninja 101 handbook.

This is all made easy with one of the more impressive control schemes yet that I’ve experienced in an action-heavy iPhone game. Usually the killer for most games in the App store are the controls, but Tap-Fu pulls it off nicely. You have the option for on-screen controls, or touch controls (which look really cool by the way). Simple taps or directional swipes will have you punching, rolling, or performing special attacks.

So with fantastic visuals, a funny story mode, and solid controls, Tap-Fu sounds like the complete package right? Close. Tap-Fu’s major pitfall is how the story mode is set up. Essentially, you traverse the same terrain over and over again, fighting enemies and collecting the candy they drop. As you progress through each level, the amount of candy you need to collect raises. Sure, they throw a few different enemies as you go further, and the AI gets tougher and tougher (almost to a frustrating point at around level 8), but that’s all it is. Rinse, repeat.

They obviously knew this formula would grow stale so they tried to throw in some different segments into the game, like levels where you’re being chased, or an extremely frustrating platform level which has you bouncing upward into the sky on clouds while you’re grabbing candy. While I appreciated the mix in pacing, these breaks didn’t always serve their purpose. They offered variety but also had me wanting to throw my iPhone against the nearest wall as the game lends itself more toward action than platforming.

What I would have loved to see, is a more focused story mode, with a little more depth, but most importantly more variety in locations. Going through the same thing the entire game grows tiresome; luckily the visuals will make up for the lack of diversity.

With all of this in one package, and a cheap price tag to boot, it’s easy for me to recommend Tap-Fu to any action/fighting fan. Even with the tedious store mode, the visuals, humor, and action do the job. It’s one of the more complete packages that I’ve come across in the App Store. With a little more work Tap-Fu could very well be a masterful experience, but some poor design choices keep it from reaching that mark. Hopefully the future installments can remedy this as they’re just a few tweaks away from perfection.

The Story*

“A lethal marketing virus has turned half the world’s population into brain eating zombies. Now they are after you and your friends’ brains!

All you have on hand are every day items and an internet connection. Reach out to your Twitter friends to help you build defense towers out of every day items. Stop the zombies from penetrating your home base and eating your grey matter!

With your friends manning the towers and your brilliant battle strategies the zombies don’t stand a chance … or do they?”

*(taken from the game’s description on iTunes)

To be honest, when I first heard about Tweet Defense I thought it was going to be a new game on Twitter; something similar to the Assassin’s Creed Twitter Experience. It wasn’t until the game actually released that I realized I was completely wrong.

Tweet Defense is just another addition to the crowded tower defense genre. I like the genre, but there are so many that still use just the original concept; top down game play with waves of enemies that travel a linear path to an exit. Place towers along the path and stop them from reaching that exit. Tweet Defense is no exception.

From the start, you’ll want to sign into Twitter. This will give you multiple bonuses for your towers. The amount of friends, followers, and number of tweets will give you a boost in your rate of fire, range, and damage respectively. Following the daily booster will allow you to buy the booster tower at a cheaper cost in game and will also receive an additional range boost. Get used to this because you’ll be signing in every time you start the game as these added boosts do help.

Now for the core tower defense game play. Ten maps are available with three difficulty settings. You aren’t really presented with a challenge on any difficulty until maps 7 to 10 though. From 1 to 6 the paths that the enemy takes are narrow and long so with a good setup, it shouldn’t be a problem. 7 to 10 are more open and require good planning. These levels will require you to use your towers to make a path for the zombies giving you more time to shoot them on the path you make.

Gameplay consists of zombies entering from one side of the map and exiting on the other. Paths are set for these zombies to travel on. You must set up towers along this path and destroy the zombies before they reach the exit. Each tower is different and costs resource points. Killing a zombie will grant you 15 points each. Each tower is self explanatory. You can use Nail guns, Catapults, Flame Throwers, Gloop Towers, Electric Towers, and Boost towers. Each cost 50, 150, 200, 500, and 1000 respectively with the boost tower depending on your twitter options. As for zombies, there are Sneakies which are slow zombies, Blubberbies which are tough zombies and require a lot of fire power, Mombies which spawn Zuppies when close to death and freakies which are slow, but require a bit of firepower. When you exit the game, the game will automatically save so you can continue from where you left off.

With gameplay out of the way, there are some great things with this game. Visually the game looks great. Whether you are playing at the default zoom level or zoomed in close. Everything is smooth and no jagged edges. Zombies are rendered great. When killed, they fall backwards in a fountain of blood. The towers are built from items commonly found outside of a house. With the later levels you will be setting up a lot of towers. With the amount of towers and zombies on screen, there is no visible lag. Very impressed by that. Another great feature is the auto save function; when you want to quit, the game will auto save allowing you to continue with your round and map.

The music is very repetitive but you have the option of using your own music too. The zombies sound like you’d expect but when you have a lot on the screen all dying at once with every tower firing, it is annoying and will have you muting the game.

While the game looks great, I noticed quite a few faults worth mentioning. There is supposed to be an update released but I don’t know what fixes it will include. First thing I noticed was the pace of the game play. It feels boring. Compared to most of the new tower defense games I play, they require more interaction than just placing a tower and waiting. More often than not, you will have a strong set up and will just be watching the zombies die. Depending on your settings, the screen may dim or go to sleep. Second, at times it can be hard to place a tower exactly where you want it as your thumb is in the way. This isn’t so much a game fault, but a hardware fault. With a tile set or grid I feel it could have helped with location. Also, when trying to upgrade towers near the edge of the screen, it is almost impossible to do. Third, the game doesn’t save your Twitter information. I can see why this was left out because in order to get the booster tower bonus, you must follow the person on Twitter. This can easily be done in game with a simple button, but by giving the option to save the info and follow this person automatically would have greatly improved this Twitter functionality. As I mentioned before, even with 3 difficulty settings, the game isn’t really difficult until map 7-10. There are no boss battles either. This would of made it much more of a challenge and rewarding when defeating a boss.

My Final Thoughts:
As a tower defense game, Tweet Defense is fine. It has everything you’d expect – varied waves of enemies, various towers, upgrades, and multiple unique levels. I have one problem though; it’s the same experience as any other tower defense game. Sure, you can use twitter to put a bonus on your tower, but it doesn’t provide anything new to the genre. Games like Plants vs Zombies, Fieldrunners, Defender Chronicles (2D tower defense), and geoDefense Swarm that are available on the iPhone provide a unique experience. The twitter option is neat, but just feels tacked on. If you are a fan of the tower defense genre, you won’t be disappointed. If you are looking for a tower defense game with a new take on the genre, you’ll be for the most part, disappointed. While the game is at $0.99 I recommend buying it, but when the price increases, the choice is up to you.

Game Review:

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR GOD OF WAR I AND GOD OF WAR II

If you own a PlayStation 3 (PS3) and you’re new to the God of War trilogy, do yourself a favor and pick up the God of War Collection. Immerse yourself in the mythos of Kratos and see how he evolved into the furious badass he is today. I remember playing through God of War II and having my jaw drop at the literal cliffhanger. Ever since the third installment was announced for the PS3 back in 2007, fans of the series have held their collective breaths, wondering which direction Santa Monica Studio would take. When Sony unveiled the debut trailer at E3 2008, suddenly the buzz was on. Fast forward to 2010 with the release of the highly anticipated title.

God of War III is the final piece to Santa Monica Studio’s trilogy puzzle, set to light up PS3s everywhere. It picks up right where God of War II left off — the monumental confrontation between the gods of Olympus and Kratos rallying the Titans for another bid at The Great War. Riding atop Gaia’s back, Kratos boldly announces his intentions to “bring the destruction of Olympus!” It’s rather hard not to believe the Ghost of Sparta isn’t capable of accomplishing such a feat. His resume of doom is quite impressive, including: killing Ares, acquiring Pandora’s Box, escaping the Underworld and defying The Fates. If there’s one man for the job of bringing down Zeus and company, Kratos is just the guy you want to go on a murdering rampage.

If you’ve played through the previous titles, you know exactly what to expect with the gameplay mechanics and the controls. It’s a third-person action adventure with elements of platforming; throw in a fixed camera and token sex mini game, and you’ve got a title that feels instantly familiar. Chests are scattered throughout, providing orbs for upgrades, health and magic. Weapons run the whole gamut — from Kratos’ trusty Blades of Exile to Hercules’ Nemean Cestus.

The range of weapons available is a hack and slash player’s dream, leaving the door wide open for unique combinations of brutality. With any title in this genre, its worth is determined by combat mechanics and this is where God of War III shines, carrying on the legacy of its predecessors. Tight controls make it easy to switch from sharp weaponry to devastating magic. Combat runs elegantly to string combinations of grounded and aerial assaults before segueing into optional quick time events of finishing moves. Ending lives is not a delicate exercise; Kratos goes full out, leaving behind entrails, heads and other body parts in his wake. If you’re squeamish, these predetermined button presses of remorseless violence will most likely leave you queasy. Whether it’s flesh being separated from sinewy muscle or intestines spilling from slashed bellies, the attention to detail underscores both artistic and technical skill Santa Monica Studio employed.

Words like epic and mind-blowing get tossed around a lot, but they’re so fitting, especially after getting a high dose of visual eye candy during the opening sequence. The sheer scale of the ensuing battle grips you in rapt attention. Exiled Titans returning for one last hurrah against the gods of Olympus? You can bet your eyes will water at the glorious nihilism on display. It’s a celebration of ass kicking, wonderfully vicious ass kicking! While taking down Minotaurs and Centaurs are welcome ways to execute particular combinations, there is definitely a sense of awe and satisfaction when committing deicide. The scale is what draws you in. Think about it. Numerous gods completely dwarf Kratos, leaving your antihero to sometimes climb onto them to execute vicious kills. You’re not just fighting enemies left and right anymore!

While God of War III begins with high-octane overdrive sequences leaving you breathless, it settles into a more manageable, recognizable pace. Climbing from Hades’ Realm up Mount Olympus, there is something new to keep your attention from straying into boredom. Kratos’ ascent gives the game a vertically-oriented focus, once again emphasizing the massive scale of his quest. Level designs and objectives are balanced to prevent gameplay from growing stale. Icarus Ascent, where you use the Icarus Wings to fly straight up through what is essentially a wind tunnel, is one such welcome transition. As Kratos defeats enemies, he gains new weapons and abilities that keep combat engaging. Beyond gameplay and level design, God of War III is simply breathtaking; even Chimeras and The Furies are grotesquely beautiful! Cutscenes employing more traditional animation doesn’t break up the pace; surprisingly, it provides a richer backstory using simple means to contrast against the graphically intensive design. Santa Monica Studio has finely balanced every aspect to constantly keep the audience’s attention.

While the game is a technical and artistic victory in visual eye candy, there may be certain aspects that would irk the discerning gamer. The storytelling is blunt and straightforward: Kratos makes a declaration of killing everything on sight and goes about doing so with the most vicious methods he can conjure. While there were elements of humanity in Kratos in previous titles, he is absolutely heartless; there is no empathy or mercy left, painting him as a fairly flat character. I must step in with a side note concerning the pacing as well. While the game was well balanced, there was one particular objective that was a slight bump in the road. I won’t ruin anything, but it felt like I was playing Spartan Guitar Hero. It was a discordant note in an otherwise fluid pace.

These are, of course, minor asides in a title that is otherwise a stellar example of what technical and artistic visions can combine to create. There were numerous times when I was left slack-jawed at the cutscenes after I took down a god. As the finale of the trilogy, it certainly bears the burden of expectations. With balanced poise, God of War III provides a satisfying end to a series that will leave an indelible mark amongst the PlayStation fanbase.

Jinkwell’s final say: God of War III has left me completely enthralled by the beauty of both the graphics and the combat. Only one word adequately describes this game: epic. I wasn’t just watching murder unfold; I participated in the act through quick time events for one serious cut of deicide.

Note: Review copy provided by Sony and does not affect the outcome of this article.

Game Review: Scrap Metal
Release Date: March 10, 2010
Genre: Racing, Action
Developer: Slick Entertainment
Available Platforms: Xbox 360
Players: 1-4
MSRP: 1200 MSP
Multiplayer: Versus
Game Rating: E10 (Everyone 10+)
Website: http://www.scrapmetalgame.com/

The controls have two options, the default control scheme uses the left stick and you point in the direction you want; and you can drive & steer the vehicle with one control button. The advance control scheme will be more familiar to any gamer who has played a racing game, with them you press RT to drive and use the left stick to steer. These controls are much more intuitive. On both control schemes you press A to fire your weapon. The controls are tricky to learn and will get you frustrated, but all I can say is stick with them and give them a chance. After awhile using them you will get used to them and will have no trouble at all. Overall the singleplayer was a solid play through. It was full of explosions and exciting races and provided a lot of fun and frustration in equal measure.

Multiplayer in this game is much the same as the singleplayer with a few exceptions. You can’t upgrade your vehicle. Instead your giving a set of vehicles for each of the game modes. You can however customize your car but its limited; you can only change the paint job on each vehicle. There is 3 game modes; Race, Derby & King of the Hill. Race is pretty much want the title says you race against 3 other Xbox Live players and the rest are AI. Derby is an all out war with everybody trying to destroy the other persons vehicle. King of the Hill is mix of both Race & Derby were you have destroy other vehicles and earn points and also race around a track. Online was great to play, it was much the same as the singleplayer. The lack of players in one lobby was a disappointment, there was only 4 players in each game mode with the rest being AI. If there was 8 players in a single lobby for each game mode it would have been better.

Game Review: Final Fantasy XIII
Release: March 9th, 2010
Genre: Role Playing Game
Developer: Square Enix
Available Platforms: PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
Players: One
MSRP: $59.99
ESRB: Rating: Teen
Website: www.finalfantasy13game.com

Prologue

Cocoon – a utopia in the sky.

It’s inhabitants believed their world a paradise. Under the Sanctum’s rule, Cocoon had long known peace and prosperity.

Mankind was blessed by it’s protectors, the benevolent fal’Cie, and believed that tranquil days would continue forever

Their tranquillity was shattered with the discovery of one hostile fal’Cie.

The moment that fal’Cie from pulce – the feared and detested lowerworld – awoke from it’s slumber, peace on Cocoon came to an end.

Fal’Cie curse humans, turning them into magic-wielding servants.

They become l’Cie – chosen of the fal’Cie.

Those branded with the mark of a l’Cie carry the burden of either fulfilling their Focus or facing a fate harsher than death itself.

A prayer for redemption. A wish to protect the world. A promise to challenge destiny.

After thirteen days of fates interwined, the battle begins.

(Taken from the in-game booklet.)

I have to admit, taking this on after reading some pre-release reviews had me a bit worried. I had heard that some Final Fantasy series lovers would hate this game.  I had decided to take this game on as an unbiased reviewer, not a Final Fantasy lover, in case they were right.

But after a few hours in, I realized that this was another game that some reviewers had completely wrong.

Though it has both it’s ups and downs, it is an amazing game. If you haven’t decided on getting it or not, let me help you make up your mind.

The first thing you’re going to notice when starting FFXIII is the graphics. Absolutely fantastic! That’s all you can really say. Once again Square Enix is raising the bar on video games. Battle scenes take on the same look as their ‘movie’ scenes which makes the entire game flow so smoothly.

I think the story is excellent and I love the way all of the characters intertwine back and forth and meet up throughout the game. Also, you don’t play the same main character throughout the entire game, you switch between them so you can see what each group is up to at all times.

The one thing I highly recommend doing is reading all of the Datalog and keeping up with it. Your first chance to get into your menu is the best time to start. It goes through a lot of details they leave out at the beginning of the game and really gets you caught up to speed as to why they’re doing what they’re doing.

Your main characters are all in the fight for different reasons. Lightning and Snow are out to save Serah (Lightning’s sister and Snow’s fiance) who has been taken by the fal’Cie. Hope was pushed into the entire situation and blames Snow for everything that has happened to him. Sazh’s intentions remain unknown for quite some time, but he sticks it out and fights with these people he’s only just met.

Then you have Vanille. Cute at first, but I promise you, her odd voice, constant moaning and “Ah!” “Oh!” “Yeah!” “Mmmm” comments will get to you after a while. She plays a good part in the game and is a strong character, but sometimes I wish she would just shut up.

The battle system is easy to learn if you go through the tutorials. It progresses well throughout the beginning of the game so you’re not bombarded all at once. They also keep the tutorials in your Datalog so you can check up on them if needed.

Now you can only battle with one character in the beginning (you get the ability to switch about 20-25 hours in). The other characters fight by themselves and you have no control over what they do. The only thing you can change is their “role” in battles. You have 6 different Paradigm’s which allow you to change the characters abilities as well as their behavior in combat.

For example, for more damage-dealing, you would want to use Commando or Ravager. If you need healing more, you can switch a character to a Medic. The best thing about this is that you can switch in the middle of a battle to what you need.

There are things that I really like about the battle system. If you use a potion, it goes to everyone, not just a single character. That helps during the fights more than you can imagine!

Two features that make it feel like your cheating is the Auto-battle command. Instead of going through and picking what you want to do, it will automatically choose what is best for that specific fight. Cheating, I know. Also you have a retry feature. If you die, you can start again right before the battle started, or you can use a combination of buttons to stop the current fight and retry again, if you started out badly.

There are SO many more features to the battle system, but you’re going to have to get the game to test them yourself!

Your character advances through a process known as crystogenesis. You obtain crystogen points in battle and you spend them in the Crystarium to unlock new abilities. Reminds me exactly of the Sphere Grid in FFX, which I was a big fan of. A great feature of the crystogenesis is that even if your characters do not participate in that battle (or even if they are not part of the party you are currently with) they still get crystogen points.

Music in the Final Fantasy series games has always been very good, and very important to fans. You can clearly tell that the music is not Uematsu, but it is still very good and fits the game very well.

There are a few things I’m not fond of (besides Vanille’s voice…). There are NO towns to shop in and explore (I know, right?!?). You do have a “shop” option at save points, but there are not a lot of options… Weapon choices suck, though you do have the ability a bit further into the game to upgrade them, which doesn’t make up for the lack of choices, but it helps.

Overall, I am very happy with what Square Enix has done. Though it is not my favorite Final Fantasy, it makes a great addition to the series. I would recommend it to anyone!

A big thanks to Greg Knefel & John Knefel (family members and amazing gamers!) and all the rest of my gaming family for their input!

This weekend March 13-14 Platform Nation will have the pleasure of attending The Emerald City ComiCon. Steve Artlip (Steve519) and my self will be hitting up Seattle’s biggest comic book convention of the year in hopes of bringing the P*N community some awesome comic book coverage. The two day event is packed with some incredible guest’s, everyone from Marvel’s EIC Joe Quesada, Leonard Nimoy, Stan Lee, Aaron Douglas of Battlestar Galactica fame, Will Wheeton, Thomas Jane (only good Punisher) a absolutely ridiculous list of comic book creator’s, artist’s, and writers ranging from, Tim Sale, Greg Rucka, Brian Azzerello, Brian Micheal Bendis, JH Williams 3, Geoff Johns,  to Kurt Busiek and Ed Brubaker. Not to mention Emerald City ComicCon will play host to 343 industries.  343 Industries Emerald City ComiCon
Now I could not be more excited about this event, besides the comic book juggernauts in attendance, 343 industries- the steward of all things Halo fiction will be present as will Bungie elite Frank O’Conner,  and a hand full of 343 industries soldiers. I’m really looking forward to this, as I have for awhile now been waiting to see what 343 can really do for Halo. It’s not an unknown fact that most Halo hardcore, or Halo players in general have no idea about Halo fiction outside of Master Chief – good, Aliens – bad. This is by no means the whole story, believe it or not despite the game’s extreme lack of quality story telling, the Halo universe is a deep and rich one- rivaled only by such mega epic’s as Star Wars or Lord of The Rings.

I have read all the novels, and comics, and let me be clear, the games do not do the universe they dwell within justice. Hence my excitement upon hearing about 343 industries being in attendance , thus far all we have seen from them is Waypoint (which is a great step toward enlightening the public) a collection of short stories, and Halo Legends. All of these have done a great job in advancing the fiction for those who know it, and revealing it to those who do not.  343’s presence at Emerald city ComiCon is a fantastic opportunity to find out what’s next, where will they be taking us next, will we see a blowout for Halo: Reach- many questions that I look forward to asking.

With panel’s from Oni press, Image comics, DC and Vertigo, Marvel, Darkhorse, Top Cow and many others; this looks to be a comic book fan’s delight. There is even a panel dedicated to The Green Lantern called “the Future is Bright”  I’m going to surely check this one out as I have heard nothing but great things about the previous few runs of GL (I will be grabbing them in TPB form A.S.A.P) and I am interested to hear where DC is taking the series. Another piece of info I am itching to hear about is from Vertigo in regards to my most beloved comic book series The Sandman, which is written by my favorite author Neil Gaiman, while Gaiman is not in attendance there is news coming about The Sandman, from what I understand the series had been mostly finished (aside from the spin off series) for sometime. I could be wrong but I have found no info suggesting otherwise. So this could be a big announcement for comics, as I am sure there will be many big announcements.

Aside from the ridiculous list of guest’s, there’s swag!  Everyone loves swag, and comic book swag is the best, so be sure I will be on the look out for the strangest and coolest swag I can find. I’ll even make sure to take pictures for all of P*N that won’t be able to attend the event.
Oh, and I can’t forget to mention Cos-play, yes there will be tons of people dressed as our favorite video game and comic book characters, no sadly I was not able to convince Steve to dress up as a Sack person or Krato’s, but we will be sure to get pic’s of the best, strangest, and more than likely the worst dressed.

This is a huge event with lot’s to be excited about, so go here  Emerald City ComiCon check it out, and feel free to let us know if there is anything specific you want us to check out while we are there. Like I said it’s a massive event and I have barely scratched the surface. So here’s to Emerald City ComiCon!

On a side note I am attaching an amusing video series about Emerald City Comicon for your viewing pleasure.

Emerald City ComiCon roadtrip

Platform Nation has several dlc codes to giveaway to several lucky people in our community. If you are interested in winning a code just stop by our Platform Nation Facebook Fan page and let us know you are interested. That is it, but you also need to make sure you are a fan of our page. While you’re becoming a Facebook Fan of Platform Nation, why don’t you do us a favor and tell your friends about us as well, we are actually holding a contest for that right now as well!

For those of you that have the game, Platform Nation is wanting to start a league if we can get enough people interested, if you are interested, stop by and let us know.

Originally released as a Wii game, Cocoto Magic Circus is the second game in the Cocoto series. Cocoto Magic Circus is a cute, cartoony tap-and-shoot arcade game. Your main goal is to eliminate the bad guys and rescue your fairy friend.

The story can seem a little tough to understand as you only have a cut scene at the start and end of the game. From the initial video when you load the game, Cocoto and friends discover a Magic Circus. Upon arrival, a clown puts on a little juggling act and snatches Pixie, your little fairy friend. It is up to you to stop the bad guys and retrieve the fairy. With your dart gun in hand, you select one of four characters – Cototo, Shiny, Neuro, or Baggy, and visit five challenging locations – Abyss, Volcano, Atlantis, Jungle, and Heaven.

As you enter the magical circus tent, you are presented with various mini games. At their core, the mini games require you to shoot enemies; either in their physical form, or a picture that resembles them. To shoot, simply tap the screen relative to the target. As mentioned before, there are a total of 5 locations you visit. Within each, you are given 7 mini games to complete. That’s a total of 35 games in single player! However, not every game is unique. Games will be repeated, but when they are, you are given a new target to hit that is common to that location. To start each game, the scary clown will pop up and show you the target(s) you are required to shoot. A mini game consists of shooting a certain amount of targets within a given timeframe. Each game requires,  you to either shoot oncoming enemies before they reach you, before they reach Pixie, or multiple matching target games. If you don’t hit the required targets before the time limit, you will lose a life and have the option to retry. To gain new lives, a bonus round will appear that will require you to shoot golden apples. Throughout each game, red and green balloons float across the screen. Be sure to avoid random red balloons as they will negatively affect your shooting or time. Green balloons are good and will give you extra incentives. At the end of each location, a boss will appear where you must continue shooting him until he dies.

The greatest thing about this game is the easy pick-up-and-play controls.  See a target? Tap it and your dart gun will shoot. Quick games allow you to pull out your device and play a few games while you’re bored. When you are finished the single player component, jump online and play a round of three games against another player in real time. Before and after each round, you may chat with your opponent. No one online, or don’t feel like playing another person? Play against the computer. When searching for an opponent and no one is online, you can set the game to notify you in-game when someone else is looking. If you have friends that play, or want to play someone again, there is a friends list hidden in the community balloon.

The biggest improvement this game needs is more precision in the controls. It’s frustrating when you know you’ve hit a target, but the game doesn’t think you did. Usually you know the crosshair is in fact on the target but it seems to miss slightly or not recognize the hit. I find the best way to hit the target is to tap with the flat part of your thumb instead of quickly tapping it with part of your thumb.

My overall thoughts:

I played Cocoto Magic Circus on my iPhone 3G. The game, for the most part, ran smoothly. Loading times were quick, or instant when starting a game. During the initial boot, the game would hang before showing the main menu, but after that, it ran smoothly. The overall presentation of the game surprised me as it is quite humorous. From the opening cut scene and the music throughout the game, I thought I was watching a Saturday morning cartoon. Although you won’t always find someone online, I found the online matches work well even on the edge network. Even with the occasional imprecise controls, it’s hard not to recommend Cocoto Magic Circus. As an introductory price, the game was released for only $0.99, but now at $3.99, there still seems to be more content and replay value then other games at this price. Check out the mobile version of Cocoto Magic Circus available only on the iTunes app store.

Rise of the Triad is a direct port of the Doom clone that came out back in the very early days of the First Person Shooter genre. You play as one of five different characters that you choose to invade an island of cult members. The reason for your invasion is not clear, but since when do we need an excuse to shoot people in a game? A FPS is normally measured by how fun it is to kill said people, and this is where Rise of the Triad falls painfully short.

Rise of the Triad

Rise of the Triad offers 32 levels of gameplay across four chapters. You will have different perks depending on what character you choose to play as, including higher stamina and faster movement. Unfortunately the game doesn’t do anything to let you know what character has what perk, so it’s more of a trial and error situation. This continues into the difficulty setting screen, where you choose between phrases that tell you nothing about what you are choosing.

I know it says Medium, but which one is that?

Control wise, this game is one of the worst I’ve seen on the iPhone. Granted, the FPS is a challenge to do with the touch screen interface, but it doesn’t seem that there has been any effort made to make it more accessible or user-friendly. There are several control schemes to choose from, but they all feel essentially the same. Broken. Strafing with the left d-pad is the best option when trying to kill a bunch of enemies in an area since trying to turn and shoot is a chore.

D-Pad

Graphically the game doesn’t look any different that it did back in the 90’s. There’s nothing wrong with sticking with the old school look, it just makes me realize how ugly games were back then. The part where this is becomes a factor is the fact that you could spend your $5 on a game that looks a hundred times better. It is funny to see some of the blood and gore and realize that this game was very gratuitous for the time.

Gore

Admittedly I didn’t get very far into the game because of the frustrating control issues and high difficulty. This is all the more reason why I cannot recommend this game to anyone that has an iPhone or iPod Touch. My feeling is this game was ported to the app store in order to extract some money from a game that had long since gone the way of the tired cliches it relies on. You would be wise to stay away from this one unless you have a certain nostalgia for it, and even then I would hate to ruin those good memories.